Maldives has received USD 290 million in COVID-19 aid. Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer revealed this at a press conference by the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) on Saturday afternoon, and highlighted this includes foreign aid as well as loans taken by the government.

Maldives has received USD 28.9 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) while the World Bank has approved USD 7.3 million to the country as well as a USD 10 million contingency financing signed in 2019 has been made available.

Back in April, the finance minister had revealed that Maldives was seeking over USD 200 million in foreign aid to combat COVID-19. He had also revealed that the government was in discussions with 11 international organizations and friendly nations, it the efforts to raise the funds.

Further speaking on the current work, Ameer stressed that government spending has been reduced following the pandemic.

While there have been concerns over the loans being taken, the finance minister defended the government’s decisions and emphasized that this is being done after assessing the required expenditure as well as procedures to reduce spending.

As per the latest predictions, Maldives budget deficit is projected to reach MVR 14.1 billion. While authorities had previously predicted a revenue of MVR 29.9 billion, this has been reduced to MVR 15.8 billion following the crisis.

The projected MVR 15.8 billion revenue is only possible if economic activities are re-opened by July.

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